Dynamometer force measuring apparatus



March 16, 1943.

' o. s. CARLISS DYNAMUMETER FORCE MEASURING APBQBA'IUS I I Filed Dec. 14, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ATTORNEY March 16, 1943- 0. s. cARu'ss ,3

- DYNAMOMETER FORCE MEASURING APPARATUS Filed D90. l4,"l940 2 bjheis-Sheet 2 IVNVENTOR Patented Mar. 16, 1943 2,313,862

DYNAMOMETER FoRor. MEASURING V APPARATUS Oswald S. Carliss, Fair-field, Conn, assignor to The Kron Company, Bridgeport, Conn, a corporation of Connecticut Application December 14, 1940, Serial No. 370,097

7 Claims.'- (Cl. 265-62) This invention relates to force measuring apparatus particularly equipped with a direction converting transmission thereby to be usable for counterbalancing and indicating torque forces arm and the dial head not beside, but within, a single shorter narrower and generally smaller and more slender column-like hollow structure or housing standard which consequently is enof considerable magnitude imparted sometimes abled to support the dial head unit at a lower in one direction and sometimes in the opposite level for more convenient observation than has direction by the torque arm. of a dynamometer. heretofore been possible in like cases where the In order to care for the special condition of free end of a. dynamometer torque arm reaches load application wherein a load, such as the toand works within the confines of such houstorque exerted by a dynamometer arm, may exert ing standard. its force upon a common automatic counterbal- The foregoing and other objects of the present ancing and force measuring mechanism in a conimprovements will become clear in greater parstant direction whether-originating in an upward ticular from the following description of a preor'in a downward direction,-a direction convertferred embodiment of the invention having reiing transmission may be employed consisting of erence to the accompanying drawings wherein: aframe fulcrumed lever and two upright cou- Fig. 1 is a front view of the dial head unit of pling rods. Heretofore such transmission has an automatic weighing scale supported on a holi been placed beneath or laterally beside th usual low standard whose front wall is removed to ex standard or column which houses the lever and pose an interior system of levers and linkage in linkage system which customarily underlies the which is incorp at d the p t prov ents. dial head unit of a springless or pendulum type Fig. 2 is a view taken in section on the plane of automatic weighing scale. This has involved n 1 looking in the direction of the objectionable waste of space in the complete dyrows and showing the torque arm of the dynanamometer when regarded as a unit wherein it mometer reaching to andoperating within the is highly desirable to compact all connections interior of the standard. between the dynamometer arm and thedial head Fi 3 is a p v w ta in s n n the unit into a hollow column-like housing or. standplane 33 in Fig. l. ard supporting the dial head unit at its top and Fig. 4 is a fragmentary plan View taken in possessing minimum height and breadth. section on the plane 4-4 in Fig. 1;

It is an important object of the present im- Fig; 5 is a plan view taken in section on the provements to incorporate such a direction conplane 55 in Fig. 1. verting transmission in a connecting system of Fig. 6 is a fragmentary enlarged view looking levers andfllinks of optimum compactness. Also in the direction of the arrows from the plane to incorporate in such direction converting 6-6 in Fig. 2. a transmission the ability to reduce the full magni- Fig.1 7 is a. still further enlarged, fragmentary tude of heavy torque load forces exerted by the view'of certain parts appearin in 6 taken dynamometer arm into working forces of unpa t a y n s o On the Plane i usually" small relative magnitude before such oo n t e di ect on of th rrows. forcescome to act on the automatic counter- 8 is a View taken Partially in Section 011 balancing mechanism in the dial head, thereby the planet-4 in Fig. 7 looking in the direction to enable a desirably light weight dial head unit of the arrows. to measure and indicate very heavy forces f Fig. 9 is an elevation drawn on the same scale torque load. v I as Fig. 8 looking from left to right at Fig. 6.

Other objects willappear inconnection with i 10 s a P an v oo downward on specialized features of construction and arrange- Fig. ment pointed out hereinafter in describing the The o p t pp s Shown in Figs- 1 an direction converting transmission. The features 2 comprises means t count rbalance and measreferred to reduceoperating friction and elimi- W t e. f ce Of torque transmitted to the apnate objectionable wear and looseness between paratus by a t q e arm '9- This a m Wi be relatively moving pivotallyengaged parts, and understood to befixedly carried. in. usual manner keepjsuch parts accurately correlated for coop.- by the rotatably mounted field frame of a dynaerating v ,eiliciently and with greater protection moelectric machine (not. shown) which frame against accidental disturbance or impairment. tends to turn inthe direction of rotation of the I It i further desired to locate all of the con-. armature of such machine except as resisted by meeting mechanism between the dynamometer one or the other of floating bearing blocks H- or an engine, motor, or other prime mover whose horsepower is to be measured, is coupled impellingly to the armature shaft of the before 1 mentioned dynamoelectric machine so as to rotate said armature while the engine or motor is running. The work thus produced is absorbed through the medium of electrical energy produced by the dynamoelectric machine and a resultant torque force is exerted by arm l9 upward or downward depending on the direction of armature rotation.

Bearing block H is freely rotatable on a pivot pin 20. This pin spans the space between arms 2| of the up-action yoke or shackle 22 and has its ends supported in the latter and is retained by cotter pins 23 or the like. Bearing block I2 is freely rotatable on a similar pivot pin 24. This pin spans the space between arms 25 of the down-action yoke or shackle 26 and has its ends supportedin the latter and isretained by cotter pins 21 of the like; Each face of each end portion of plate 35 above or below its knife edges I3 and I4 is, according to these improvements, equipped with a boss-like projecting abutment or thrust block 30 which if made as a separately attached part may be steadied in relation to plate 35 by dowels 3] and clamped firmly against such plate by a holding bolt 32. The head of such bolt may contain a socket to accommodate a wrench, instead of a slot to take a screw driver. Each vertical edge of each thrust block 30 falls tangent to the largest periphery of the cone-shaped head 33 of a guide stud 34 whose pointed end may contact .with that face of plate 35 against which thrust block 30 is secured. Each guide stud 34 is shouldered thereby to seat against the inner surface of" tion of a shank 38 'of the guide stud, Shank 38 a is of reduced diameter and passes through a hole in the shackle arm. Each pair of coaxially aligned guide studs 34 have their opposed head points spaced apart suificiently to permit free vertical movement of plate 35 therebetween without binding, but they afford very little clearance for said plate horizontally and therefore the two pairs of these studs carried by each shackle maintain the shackle nicely aligned with the knife edge on the terminal plate so that the bearing blocks II or l2 for such knife edge need not be provided with the usual V-groove for seatingcthe knife edge l3 or M, but instead these bearing blocks may have a perfectly flat, hardened,.horizontal top surface co'ntacted by its cooperative knife edge with greaterfreedom from friction, wear, and liability to derangement or irregularity in operation. s

Two vertical coupling rods 40, 41' depend re spectively from the'shackles '22 and 28 and have topends 42, 43 of reduced diameter in threaded engagement with said shackles, respectively, and locked against turning relative thereto by check in the lever.

nuts 44, 45. Coupling rods 40 and 4| have similar bottom ends 46, 41 of reduced diameter which are in threaded engagement respectively with two downward directed shackles 48 and 49.

Spaced arms of shackles 48, and 49 carry pivot pins 50 and 54 on which bearing blocks 52 and 53 are respectively mounted and free to turn.

Bearing block 52 contacts with a knife-edge 58 and bearing block 53 contacts with a knifeedge 59, both of which knife edges are fixedly mounted on the same direction converting lever 60 at exactly equal distances from the fulcrum thereof. As herein shown, this fulcrum may "include ball-bearings 62 affording pivotal sup- ;port for the fulcrum shaft 63 and lodged respectively in the upstanding spaced arms of a sta tionary bearing bracket 64 which is fixedly secured on the base plate 63 of a hollow column or housing standard 68 by bolts 61. This column or housing standard includes frame work which supports at its top a dial head unit designated as a whole by 69. This unit may be constructed as illustrated and described in the'U. S. Patent No. 2,083,413, granted June 8, 1937, to Glenn E.

Weist. V I

As best shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 5, the aforesaid direction converting lever .60 is bifurcate, providing a central opening spanned by fixedly carried knife-edges 58, 59 and accommodating the shackles 48 and 43. This lever also has a forked terminalportion 13, the space between whose arms is spanned by a knife-edge 14 fixed Said space accommodates a bearins pan 15 engaged by knife edge 14 and carried by a lower clevis 18 suspended from a link 11 which is coupled to an upper clevis 18 provided with the inverted bearing pan i9, v

It will .be observed at this point that the entire vertical length of the housing space within standard 68 is taken up by the direction con verting lever 60, together with the superimpo ed coupling rods 43, 4!, and the torque arm L9. The

cal series or plane at the front of said torque arm and coupling rods and at the same height levels therewith inside ,of the housing standard. To accomplish this, I resort to a type of duplex lever unusual in scale mechanism and which at the same timeeffects leverage reduction by virtue of its own construction. This duplex lever is next described.

Bearing pan '!9 rests rockably upon a knifeedge 83 bridging a gap between two short lugs 84 which together may constitute the short arm of the above mentioned duplex shelf lever des ignated as a whole by 85 and whose long arm is 86. Thesearms are connected by and are preferably integral with a substantially elongated hub 81 which carries at its extreme ends, and well outside )of thevertical planes of action of lugs 84 and arm 83, downward directed knifeedges 88, 88 which are rockably seatedon hard! ened fulcrum blocks. 83, 89 respectively supported on the tops of posts '96, 33 and guarded against bracket base 9i fixedly mounted on a horizontal channel-iron frame support. 92 which bridges the tops of channel-iron fr rmeuprig'hts 33 made fast with a knife-edge projecting at each side thereof and is straddled by the clevis yoke 95 whose bearing pans 96 contact the knife edge 94. It is especially noted that the point'of bearing of pan I9 upon knife-edge 83 falls within the area of a triangle composed of straight lines connecting fulcrums 88, 88 and connecting each of the latter with coupling pivot 94. I

Yoke 95, together with hook link 91 and its top clevis 98 and bearing pan 99 of said top clevis, serve tozcoltple the long arm 86 of shelf lever .85 to a force reducing lever I03. Lever I03 fixedly carries the knife-edge I04 which supports bearing pan 99 at a relatively short lever-arm distance from the inverted fulcrum knife-edge I05 which is also fixed in lever I03 and rockably seated on suitable fulcrum blocks stationed atop the U-shaped frame bracket I05. This bracket is mounted on channel. iron I01 of the frame which is supported from the side structure of standard 68 with the help of angle irons I08.

In addition to the reducing lever I03 the hollow standard 66 contains the conventional tare lever III rockably supported on a pivotal fulcrum II2 carried on an upright bracket I I 3 which is fixedly mounted on channel ironj II of the frame. Any conventional form of universal coupling link II4 may connect knife-edge II5, which is fixed on reducing lever I03 at a greater lever arm distance from fulcrum I05 than is-knife-edge I04,

with knife-edge II6 which is fixed on the .tare

lever III. Another knife-edge II! on tare lever III contacts with the bearing pan II8 of a .coupling yoke II9 which latter is connected .by draft rod I20 with the pendulum type of automatic load counterbalancing and measuring mechanism of the dial head unit 69.

Complete details of the dial head unit are more thoroughly set forth in the before mentioned patout, No. 2,013,483, granted to G. E. Weist. It will suiiice to mention here that as in the case of my hereinbefore mentioned copending application, the dial head unit includes'load force counterbalancing pendulums I23whose swinging movements about frame pivots I24 are converted into rotary movement of the indicator pointer I25 so that the latter sweeps over a scale of force indicating graduations I26 shown in Fig. 1. The tare lever III may carry by means of arms I2I one or more graduated tare beams I22 equipped with slidable poises such as I21.

In operation it will be understood that torque arm I9 is mounted to swing about an axis displaced a considerable distance horizontally to the left of the force exerting end of this armshown in Fig. 2. Actually it performs only a very small increment of movement which in Fig. 2 will be either upward or downward in practically a vertical direction. In Fig. 1 when torque arm I9 tends to move downward it causes knife-edge I4 to depress bearing block I2 and coupling rod 4| and hence swing lever 60 clockwise about its fulcrum 62. This draws downward on the linkage I6, 11, I8 with a reduction of force owing to the knifeedge I4 having a greater lever arm with respect to fulcrum 62 than has knife-edge 59. Hence a once reduced force is thus imparted tothe duplex shelf lever 85 urging the latter counterclockwise or downward about its fulcrum 89. Consequently the long arm 06 of shelf lever 85 pulls downward through the linkage 95, 91, 98 on the force reducing lever I03. .But up to this "point a second reduction of force has been effected because knife edge 94 has a greater lever arm with respect to fulcrum 89 than has knifeedge 83. The consequent downward pull on force reducing lever I03 urges the latter clockwise about its fulcrum I05 so that through linkage II 4 the tare lever II I is urged counterclockwise about its fulcrum II2 by a stillfurther diminished force because knife-edge II5 has a greater lever arm with respect to fulcrum I05 than has knife-edge I04. This thrice reduced force as imparted to tare lever III acts throu h linkage II9, I20 to lift the pendulums I23 of the automatic load counterbalancing mechanism of the dial head unit whose force indicating pointer I25 sweeps over a scale of graduations I26 to register the force exerted by torque arm I9.

When the torque arm exerts an upward instead of a downward pressure, this force instead of being resisted by bearing block I2 will be resisted by bearing block II seated on knife-edge I3." Through this medium, coupling rod 40 will be pulled upward and will act on knife-edge 58 to impart clockwise movement to direction reversing lever in Fig. 1 just as in the case of the downward thrust on coupling rod 4| whereby the force exerted upward by torque arm I9 will be reduced once by lever 60, again by lever 85, and .still again by lever I03 before being transmitted to the tare lever I I I, all as described in the foregoing.

The restriction of play in a horizontal direction provided by studs 34,ofwhichthere are two spaced crosswise of the line of movement on each side of each end of plate 35, makesit possible to provide bearing blocks II and I2 with entirely plain fiat surfaces omitting the usual V-groove therein for seating the knife-edges. This restriction of play will be observed to be effective endwise of plate 35 because of the engagement of the narrowed circular edge of stud heads 33 with thrust blocks 30 and effective laterally of plate 35 because of the engagement of the pointed ends of the stud heads 33 with thefront and rear faces of plate 35. Enough clearance is provided between these stud heads and the constrained portions of the plate 35 including thrust blocks 30 to permit the latter to move in unison with bearing blocks II and I2 upward and downward entirely free of cramping or appreciable frictional resistance despite the small relative movement which must take place between plate 35 and yokes 22, 26.

I may omit one of the thrust blocks 30 and both of the studs 34 shown to cooperate therewith in Fig. 10 and in the place of such thrust block and studs I may place a single stud like 34 preferably central of the distance between the remainingpair of studs 34, or in other words with its pointed head 33 in position to contact with the face of plate 35 at a pointcentrally opposite the remaining thrust block 30. This would afford 3-point instead of 4-point facewise constraint and impose upon only two studs and one thrust block the duty of edgewise constraint between plate 35 and either shackle 22 or 26.

Specific knife edge bearing constructions and details of associated thrust taking elements are not claimed in this application but are the subject of claims in my copending applications, Serial No. 402,312, filed July 14, 1941, divisional herefrom, and Serial No. 429,289, filed February 2, 1942, a continuation hereof in part.

The appended claims will be understood to contemplate and cover all substitutes and equivalents for the particular shapes and arrangements of parts herein disclosed to illustrate a successfully workable form of the invention.

I. claim:.

1. In a dynamometer' including the? torque arm of a dynamoelectri'c power absorbingmachi'ne and a force counterbalancing and indicating mechanism, a compacted apparatus for transmitting force from said arm to-said mechanism embodying in. combination, a direction: converting. lever and optionally operative draft elements connecting the same to said torque arm constructed and arranged to perform movement in a common vertical rear plane reached by the force exerting end of said torque arm, at least one force reducing lever and cooperative draft connections coupling the same to said mechanism located. at least in part at a; common height level with said torque arm and constructed and arranged to perform movement in another common vertical plane in front of said rear vertical plane, a frame fulcrum, and a fulcrum supported duplex shelflever having spaced co-directional arms respectively' occupying said rear and front planes and respectively coupled to said direction converting lever and to said force reducing lever, whereby the space occupied by said direction converting lever and draft elements involves no increase in height or breadth of the space occupied by said force reducing lever and draft connections.

2. In a dynamometer as defined in claim 1, a compacted force transmitting apparatus as defined in said claim in which the said direction converting lever is fulcrumed at a mean point in its length, together with three knife-edges carried by said' converting lever, two of said knife-edges being equidistant from said fulcrum point and engaging with the said draft elements and the remaining knife-edge being at a greaterdistance from said fulcrum point and coupled to the said duplex shelf-lever.

3. In a dynamomet'er as defined in'claim 1, acompacted force transmittingapparatus as definediin said claim, in which the said'duplex shelflever-includes an elongated hub joining the said co-directional arms thereof and passing extend ing crosswise through-the said rear and front planes and extending at its ends respectively there-beyond, together with a downward disposed knife-edge fixed in each of said ends'of said hub to afford a fulcrum bearing for said shelf-- lever at points more widely separated than are its said co-directional arms.

4. In a dynamometer as defined in claim 1, a

compacted force transmitting apparatus as defined in said claim in which the saiddirection converting lever isfulcrumed at a mean point in its length and the said duplex shelf-lever in- I cludes' an elongated hub joining the said codirectional arms thereof and extending'crosswise through. the said rear and front planes. and ex tending at its ends respectively'therebeyond, to-- gether'withthree knife-edges carried by said converting lever two of which .three knife-edges are 5, equidistance from and on opposite sides of said fulcrum point and engage with'the said draftelements and the third of which knife-edges is at a greater distance from said fulcrum point and coupled to one of said co-directional arms of said shelf-lever, together with a; downward disposed knife-edge fixed in each of said ends of said elongated hub of the shelf lever to afford fulcrum bearings for said shelf-lever at points more widely."

separated than are said co-directionalarms:

5. In a dynamometer'as. defined in' claim 1, a compacted forcev transmitting apparatus as defined in said claim in which the said direc-' tion converting lever is coupled to the said duplex shelf lever at a greater lever arm. distance than said direction converting lever is coupled to the" said torque arm, and in which the said. duplex shelf lever is coupled to the said force reducing lever at a greater'lever arm distance than said shelf-lever is coupled to. said direction converting lever, whereby the force exerted by said torquearm is reduced both by said converting lever and by said shelf-lever before said force istransmittedtherethrough to the said force counterbalancing and indicating mechanism.

6. In a dynamometer as defined in claim 1, a compacted apparatus for transmitting force as defined in said claim, in which the said spaced co-directional arms of the said duplex shelflever. are of substantially different lengths, the

longer of. said arms being. coupled to the said force reducing lever and the shorter of said arms being coupled to the said direction converting lever.

'7. In a dynamometer as defined in claim 1,

arms, the point of coupling of said shorter armto said direction converting lever falling within the area of a triangle having its corners located respectively at said separated points of fulcrum contact and said point of coupling of said longer arm.

OSWALD S. CARLISS.

a compacted'apparatus for transmitting force asdefined in said claim, in which the said spaced" v CERTIFICATE 0 CORRECTION. Patent No. 2,515,862. March 16, 19 5.

OSWALD S CARLISS.

It is hereby certified that error appears in the printed specification of the above numbered patent requiring correction as follows Page 2, first column, line 53, for the words "of the like" read -or the like--; page it, first column, line 145, claim 5, strike out "passing"; and that the said Letters" Patent should be read with this correction therein that the same may conforni to the record of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 11th day of May, A. D. 19 5.

i. Henry Van Arsdale,

(Seal) Acting Commissioner of Patents. 

